robinson



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shqet 1.

'E. ROBINSON. APPARATUS FOR DRYING TBA, SUGAR, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES. No.615,446.

Patented Feb. 27, 1894.

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1N! lwnouAL LII'NOGRAPKING COMPANY (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' E. ROBINSON.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING TEA, SUGAR, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES.

No. 515,446. Patgnted Feb. 27, 1894.

A TTORNEYS.

Unrrnn STATES A'ravr @rrrcn.

EDlVARD ROBINSON, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR DRYiNG TEA, SUGAR, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,446, dated'Februaiy27, 1894.

Application filed August 29, 1892- Serial No. 444,41 N mod l- To alZwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD ROBINSON, of e Oastelnau Gardens, Barnes,London, S. V81, England, have invented a new and useful Apparatus forDrying Tea, Sugar, or other Substances, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description. This invention relates to apparatusfor drymg tea, sugar, grain and other substances.

The invention consists in a drying apparatus of novel construction inwhich volumes of heated air are obtained by means of a spirallyconstructed heater, and driven into a revolving spirally constructeddrier adapted to carry and pass the material to be dried through it,substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly pointed outin the claims. Referenceis to he had to the accompanying drawingsforming a part of this specification, in which similar letters ofreference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus complete; Fig. 2 apartlysect-ional and broken side elevation, upon a larger scale, of thatportion of the apparatus which provides for the heating of the air to beused in the drier;

of the heater.

sectional side elevation of the drier nd f e and Fig. 3 a transversesection upon the line 3-3 111 Fig. 2, of one of the tubular cylindersFig. 4.- is a half or partially ing devices; Fig. 5 a transverse sectionupon the line 5-5 in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a transverse section'mainly uponthe line 66 in Fig. 4; and Fig. 7 a transverse section mainly upon theline 77 in Fig. 4.

The air heating portion of the apparatus is constructed mainly asfollows: A A are parallel cylinders or shells each of which is littedinternally with a spiral divider B resembling in shape an Archimedeanscrew and extending throughout the diameter and length of the body ofthe shell. Tubes 0 of brass or other suitable material are arranged topass through the spiral dividers in directions parallel to the axes therect, and the ends of said tubes are expanded into the tube plates atthe ends of said shells or otherwise made steam tight. These tubes 0pass through orifices throughout thp whole length of the culate throughthe series of tubes in both cylinders or shells for the purpose ofheating the air to be passed to the drier, which air enters at an inlet6 near the one end of one of the cylinders A, passes in a spiral courseand about the spiral divider B in said cylinder, thence out through abranch pipe f to one end of the air space in the other cylinder A,through or about the spiral dividerB in that cylinder, and out throughan outlet 9 at the other end of such cylinder, from whence it may bedrawn by a fan D to supply the drying portion of the apparatus. Instead,however, of the air being exhausted from the heater to supply the drier,it is evident that the air may be driven through the heater for thatpurpose; nor is the heating portion of the apparatus restricted to twocylinders fitted with spiral dividers and tubes running through thedividers, which virtually form a unit, the same as if one cylinder oftwice the length similarly fitted were used, and it will suffice tospeak of the two cylinders as one.

In the fitting up of this heater it is preferred to arrange a centraltube of larger size through the cylinder and its spiral divider and toplace the other tubes of smaller size in circles around it. The numberand size of the tubes however must be adapted to the work to be done. Bymeans of the spiral divider, the air to be heated is made to circulatearound the tubes and its passage through the heater is prolonged throughits. spiral course of travel, so that large volumes of air can be heatedto about the same temperature of the steam passing through the tubes, ifrequired.

Any suitable means can be employed for carrying off the water ofcondensation, which water may again be used in the boiler.

If desired, instead of supplying the heat by steam, the gaseous productsof combustion from a furnace may be passed through the tubes of theheater, and it advisable, be re turned through a flue on the outside ofthe cylinder. It is unnecessary, however, here to describe in detailthese audotherchanges and details orhow the heater maybeset inbrickwork, as others skilled in the art of utilizing heat as derivedfrom furnaces either directly or through the intervention of steam, liveor exhaust, will readily understand how such may be done. The mainfeature of this part of the apparatus is the action of the spiraldivider which prolongs the travel of the current of air while beingexposed to the action of the heat or heated gases or steam, thusutilizing and economizing the absorption of the heat to the greatestextent, but this advantage would be lost or largely diminished were suchheated current of air not applied or distributed and imparted to thematerial to be dried in alike prolonged and efficient manner,consequently I cause said heated current of air to be similarly appliedby subjecting the material to be dried to a confined spiral course oftravel while under exposure to the heated current or currents of airpassing through the drier as the same is transferred thereto, by the fan1), for instance, for distribution within and through the material to bedried.

The construction of the drier or drying portion of the apparatus willnow be described in connection with the operation of the same. Thus, theblast or current of heated air passes, as it is sucked or driven fromthe heater, into a horizontal tube E, carried by opposite end standardsor bearings h h, which tnbeis provided with orifices or nozzles '11, fordistribution of the heated air within a cylinder G, carrying "thematerial to be dried as hereinafter described, said tube beingconcentric with the cylinder. This cylinder is a revolving one, carriedupon rollers 7a 70, and may be driven by acircular rack Z, on saidcylinder in gear with an operating pinion m on a shaft below, which maybe driven by pulleys from an overhead shaft that may be used to alsodrive the fan D as shown in Fig. l, but these driving arrangements maybe changed as desired. The aper'tured tube E is stationary and itsnozzles t' are arranged at equal distances apart for the uniformdistribution of the heated air within the cylinder.

, Loosely surrounding the central tube E and attached to the shell ofthe revolving cylinder G is a spirally constructed divider I-I, runningthroughout the length of the cylinder and constructed to form acontinuous series of spirally constructed and connecting chambers n n,preferably made of reticulated material and having intervening spacesbetween them to provide for the free circulation of the heated airWithin the cylinder, and of asuitable pitch to provide for the onwardmovement of the material to be dried through the cylinder for ultimatedelivery through an opening 0 at the one end of the cylinder.

The material to be dried is admitted through an opening s at theopposite end of the cylinder near to the center tube E, and is receivedWithin a round upright or transverse chamber a, bounded by a partition avirtually forming an end extension of the spiral divider H said chamberbeing also provided with a diaphragm partition b, attached to the outershell and vertical end of the cylinder, nearly at right angles to itsaxis of rotation, and at each turn of the cylinder the materialintroduced is carried upward by the diaphragm and is made to fall intothe first of V the spiral seriesrof chambers n for onward travel throughthe whole series ofcontinuous spiral chambers toward the delivery end ofthe cylinder. These chambers are divided into four, more or less,equal'spaces by means of inward angular or tangential diaphragms 0'attached to the periphery of the cylinder, and supplemented by a secondseries of smaller diaphragms cl placed nearly opposite the first seriescand secured to the chambers at near to the center air distributing tubeE. These several diaphragms are placed at such angles as to carry thematerial being dried round in a complete circle at each revolution ofthe cylinder, thereby gentlypassing said material from an upperelevation into the next succeeding spiral chamber and s0 on throughoutthewhol'e length of the spiral divider H and only advancing the materialone quarter of each spiral circle or portion of the divider at each turnof the cylinder. By these means the material being dried is slowlycarried through the whole series of spiral chambers or baskets, equallydistributed round the cylinder and kept in constant mo tion and allowedto trickle down in thin streams freely exposed to the drying action ofthe heated air passing through the cylinder, and the con tents of eachspiral section of the divider is delivered in succession at each turn ofthe cylinder through the terminal delivery outlet '0 in the cylinder.

The several continuous spiral chambers n of the divider H are made ofwire of such gage, texture or mesh as may be best suited to the natureof the commodity to be dried; or thin perforated plates, such as of tinor zinc for instance, may be used in the construction of' said chambers,the main object being to secure the most free action of the current ofheated air on the material under IIO through said chambers.

Suitable special openings may be made at both ends of the cylinder G, orcentral upenings similar to the one 5', shown, be provided at oppositeends of the cylinder, to admit of the escape of air charged withmoisture from the material being dried and which will be rapidlyexpelled by the incoming heated air from the central tube E.

By employing pulleys of different sizes as shown in the drawings, theapparatus can be driven at any required speed, so as to pass thematerial quickly to be dried, or to prolong the operation according tothe time re quired to complete the work. V p I A self actingcontrivanc'e is applied to feed the material into the cylinder G whichcan be regulated at will. It consists of a hopper f in which revolves acorrugated drum 9' or tines as the case may require, feeding thematerial into a horizontal tube h fitted with a small spiral propeller729. This feeding tube is placed in proximity to the central tube E soas to drop its contents into the receiving chamber of the spiral dividerH. But no claim is here made to any special feeding device of thematerial, and for heavy granular matter, such as will readily run downachute, other and simpler feeding contrivances may be used.

Having thus described my invention, what- I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus for drying granular and other substances, thecombination with a rotatable drying cylinder having a receivingcompartment at its forward end, and a spiral divider secured to saidcylinder and adapted to be rotated therewith, ot a device for feedingthe material to the receiving compartment near thecenter thereof, adiaphragm secured within said receiving compartment and adapted to passthe material to the spiral divider, and a series of diaphragms withinthe reticulated spiral chambers for carrying the material upward andconveying it from one end of the cylinder to the other, substantially asspecified.

2. In an apparatus for drying granular and other substances, thecombination, with a rotatable drying cylinder having a receivingcompartment at its forward end, and a spiral divider secured to the saidcylinder and adapted to be rotated therewith, of a device for feedin gthe material to the receiving compartment near the centerthereof,adiaphragm secured within the said receiving compartment and adapted topass the material to the spiral dirider, a series of diaphragms securedto the said cylinder and projecting inwardly therefrom between the convolutions of the spiral divider, and another series of diaphragmssecured to the central portion of the said spiral the material to thesaid reticulated spiral divider, of a central heated air distributingtube having nozzles or apertures for the distribution of said air, andmeans for feeding the material to the receiving compartment near thecenter thereof, substantially as specified.

e. In an apparatus for drying granular and other substances, therotatable drying cylinder provided internally with a spiral reticulateddivider rotating in common with said cylindenand constructed to form acontinuous or connected series of spiral reticulated chambers adapted tocarry and advance the material to be dried through said cylinder, andprovided with a receiving compartment or chamber at its forward endhaving a diaphragm adapted to pass the material to'the first of theseries of spiral reticulated chambers, in combination with a centralheated air distributing tube Within the cylinder, having nozzles orapertures for the distribution of said air, anda series of diaphragmswithin the reticulated spiral chambers, operating to agitate and controlthe movement of the material from each spiral reticulated chamber to thenext in succession, substantially as specified.

5. The combination of the rotating drying cylinder G, with itsinternally fitted spiral reticulated divider H, constructed to form acontinuous or connected series of reticulated spiral chambers adapted tocarry and ad- Vance the material to be dried through said cylinder, thecentral heated air distributing tube E, within the cylinder, havingnozzles or outlets i, and an air heating cylinder or structure A,provided with a spiral divider B, arranged in direction of its length,and with a series of steam or other heating tubes 0, passing throughsaid spiral divider B, and means for passing the current of heated airthrough the drying cylinder, essentially as described.

EDWARD ROBINSON.

WVitnesses:

KENNETH R. Pnowsn, CHARLES W. HENDERSON.

